Tabs

10 January 2019

Once again, I encountered one of those pens that show the essential conflict between the collector and the historian, or between the the rarity and the icon. I am well aware that most collectors would not hesitate to choose the exception over the norm despite the fact that very little do these rarities offer to the understanding of the history of pens.

Today's pen is a prototype.

In 2001, on the occasion of its 90th anniversary, Sailor created the corresponding anniversary pen. This was called “Mannenhitsu Dôraku”, something like “pen obsession". That was a limited edition of 900 units, made of dark or clear briarwood. This was –dare I say-- one of the most interesting limited editions made by Sailor due to its two-fold nib—a cross nib in the Sailor way of naming its specialty nibs.

The final version of the 90th anniversary pen of Sailor's. 900 units in dark or clear briarwood.

The prototype also implements a double nib, but a more complex one: a King Cobra with an overfeed (called “emperor”) to ensure the ink supply.

The prototype.

This was, apparently, a proof of concept for the final anniversary pen. I can only guess that the actual cost of this combination, King Cobra nib plus overfeed, was finally too costly and was rejected.

4 comments:

All the best for 2019! Do you have any thoughts on the replacement feeds and nib units being made that would allow a Sailor speciality nib, like the ones in the article, to be fitted into a Conid bulkfiller - or any eye-dropper made to accept a Bock nib unit?

I am not so sure of understanding your question, but if what you were trying to do is to implement a Sailor nib onto another pen, I would start by checking this text -- https://estilofilos.blogspot.com/2018/07/nib-sizes-feed-diameters.html --, and then I would try with an Opus-88. But as you can see, there is a mismatch between the Sailor's feed diameter (6.4 mm) and the Bock/JoWo's units (6.0 mm).

Check also this other text: https://estilofilos.blogspot.com/2013/08/twsbi-naginata.html .

Thanks, Saltire. Grouping the nib and the feed in an ad-hoc compatible housing makes everything easier. And I confirm my initial suggestion--Opus 88. Now, I am sure there might be a number of Indian pens made of ebonite that would also work.